Q. Some of your competitors have said they have got a handle on KERS, and other have said they haven't. Where do McLaren stand on this technology? Have you got to grips with it?

RD: We think we are very strong. We spent a lot of time analyzing which particular technology we would follow. In the end, we decided to follow an electro-mechanical system. So far, the work that has been done by Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines and ourselves has gone very well. We have had very few real difficult parts of the programme. It is all extremely challenging, and it is cutting edge technology. There is nowhere you can buy this technology. You have to invent, develop, design and prove out everything, because whilst the principles of energy recovery are well known to everybody, actually the execution of it in high performance vehicles is virtually unknown. We think we are in a strong position but only time will tell. Certainly the first grand prix will give an indication, but as always in grand prix racing it will be two or three races before a pattern starts to emerge.

last week in autosport they were discussing kers and how the differing teams are shaping up, BMW have a lot of experience, ferrari apparently are behind the curve which could also affect red bull, torro rosso and renault as marelli are also working on their systems, toyota are not planning to introduce it till later in the year whilst williams have gone in an entirely different direction relying on a flywheel system, force india i assume are dependent on their engine supplier which brings us to mclaren who's engine factory apparently looks more like a kers factory and there are a lot of very content looking people who think they are ahead of everyone.

How many times can the drivers use the stored energy from their new fangled KERS thingy? Will they limit it like the boosts they used in A1GP?

One 6.667 second shot every lap. The boost is limited to 60kW, or just over 80 horses.

However, the rules appear to permit using the 400 kJ at a slower rate and gaining more time on it. That could be an interesting facet.

EDIT TO ACCOMODATE SILLY IDEA : Having done a bit of Wipeout Fusion today, would it be technically possible to have a system where if a car is (say) less than 100 metres in front of you and you are racing for position, you could control their KERS and movable wings? The KERS could work like the Turbo Enforcer, where they get a shot of boost whether they want it or not, making them run wide at a corner. OK, it might not be safe at somewhere like Monaco, maybe make it work for 0.25 seconds or something in this case. Or slightly more seriously the movable wings, you could give the guy in front a bit more wing on the straight to help nail the overtake.

Disclaimer : My silly ideas are just that and are not serious suggestions ... just entertainment value.

Quote from duke_toaster :

Having done a bit of Wipeout Fusion today, would it be technically possible to have a system where if a car is (say) less than 100 metres in front of you and you are racing for position, you could control their KERS and movable wings? The KERS could work like the Turbo Enforcer, where they get a shot of boost whether they want it or not, making them run wide at a corner. OK, it might not be safe at somewhere like Monaco, maybe make it work for 0.25 seconds or something in this case. Or slightly more seriously the movable wings, you could give the guy in front a bit more wing on the straight to help nail the overtake.

All the Ferrari conspiracists would believe that everybody -including his teammate - was using their Turbo Enforcer on Hamilton.

Quote from duke_toaster :

EDIT TO ACCOMODATE SILLY IDEA : Having done a bit of Wipeout Fusion today, would it be technically possible to have a system where if a car is (say) less than 100 metres in front of you and you are racing for position, you could control their KERS and movable wings? The KERS could work like the Turbo Enforcer, where they get a shot of boost whether they want it or not, making them run wide at a corner. OK, it might not be safe at somewhere like Monaco, maybe make it work for 0.25 seconds or something in this case. Or slightly more seriously the movable wings, you could give the guy in front a bit more wing on the straight to help nail the overtake.

Disclaimer : My silly ideas are just that and are not serious suggestions ... just entertainment value.

Sounds like Bernie's pipe dream.